LGD Gaming will have to find a new mid laner before The International 2026 kicks off in four days.
LGD Gaming mid laner 
Santiago “TaiLung” Agüero Gustavo has been banned from competing in The International (TI) 2026 and all future tournaments by TI 2026 organiser PGL due to issues with the player's competitive integrity. The news comes just before this year's Dota 2 world championship tournament is scheduled to kick off on 13 August.
In a post on its official Weibo account, LGD revealed that they had recently been informed of competitive integrity issues relating to TaiLung's tournament activities. The team added they immediately launched an internal investigation, then shared their findings and cooperated with PGL in the organiser's subsequent investigation.
Neither LGD or PGL have revealed any details surrounding TaiLung's alleged competitive integrity issues or in which tournaments these issues were committed.
As a result of the investigations, PGL have made the decision to ban TaiLung from participating in TI 2026 and all future tournaments organised by them. This marks the first time in the history of Dota 2's annual world championship tournament that a player that previously qualified for it was banned from competing.
LGD said that they respect PGL's decisions and will “complete the follow-up work in accordance with the relevant tournament rules and requirements", according to a machine translation of the organisation's statement.
“Fairness and integrity in competition are fundamental principles of professional esports and are the bottom line that LGD has always adhered to. For any issues that may involve integrity in tournament activities, the club will take necessary measures promptly based on facts and evidence, proactively report to the relevant tournament organizers, and actively cooperate with subsequent investigations and actions,” added LGD.
Valve have yet to issue a statement on TaiLung's ban from competing in TI 2026.
What will happen to LGD in TI 2026 following TaiLung's ban?
Despite the competitive integrity issues and subsuequent banning of its mid laner from competing in TI 2026, LGD Gaming have resolved to compete in this year's world championship tournament with the rest of its roster. The organisation added that 
Yuma “Yuma” Langlet, 
Adrian “Wisper” Cespedes Dobles, 
Thiago “Thiolicor” Cordeiro, and Matheus Santos Jungles “KJ” Diniz are all “preparing normally” for the event.
LGD are also in the process of finding a new mid laner with TI 2026 mere days away, a special roster adjustment arrangement approved by PGL given the circumstances. LGD said that they will announce their new mid laner and final roster for TI 2026 as soon as possible following confirmation.
“Thank you for your understanding and support for the players who are fully preparing for The International 2026,” said LGD.
South American Dota 2 scene plagued by competitive integrity issues in back-to-back high-profile events
TaiLung getting banned from TI 2026 and all future PGL events effectively spells the end of his professional Dota 2 career, an unfortunate outcome for a player once considered to be a rising star for South American Dota 2 and a player to look out for in TI 2026. While this news is already devastating on its own for the already struggling South American scene, its impact is made worse by the fact that it is the second incident of South American players getting banned from a high-profile event due to competitive integrity issues.
During the Dota 2 Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026 in July, two members of South American team 
PlayTime were provisionally suspended from the event amid an integrity investigation. The two involved members were mid laner Gonzalo “DarkMago” Herrera and sports director Juan “Vintage” David Angulo Nicho.
As a result of the suspensions, PlayTime were forced to forfeit their match in the tournament's Elimination Stage and were thus eliminated in 13th-16th place. DarkMago and Vintage subsequently parted ways with PlayTime alongside Frank “Frank” Arias, though the latter player insisted that his departure from the team had nothing to do with the competitive integrity incident.
What is The International 2026?
TI 2026 will be this year's iteration of Dota 2's annual world championship tournament, taking place in August in Shanghai, China. As with previous iterations of the tournament, TI 2026 will feature a total of 16 teams that earn their spots in the tournament by receiving direct invites or earning slots through regional qualifiers.
The list of directly-invited teams to TI 2026 include
Aurora Gaming, 
BetBoom Team, 
Team Falcons,
Team Liquid, 
1w Team, 
Xtreme Gaming, and 
Team Yandex. Meanwhile, the teams that earned their spots through the regional qualifiers include European qualifier winners 
Team Spirit, 
TEAM VISION (aka PARIVISION), 
HULIGANI, and 
Nigma Galaxy, North American qualifier winner 
GamerLegion, Southeast Asian qualifier winner 
OG, South American qualifier winner LGD Gaming, as well as Chinese qualifier winners 
Vici Gaming and Team Resilience.
TI 2026's main event will be hosted in the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai. Valve first announced that Shanghai will host TI 2026 during last year's world championship tournament, where Team Falcons claimed the Aegis of Champions after defeating China's Xtreme Gaming in the five-game grand finals.
This will mark the second time that Shanghai will host TI after TI 2019, where Western Europe's OG became the first-ever two-time TI champions after defeating Team Liquid in four games to claim the grand prize of US$15.6 million, out of the US$34.3 million prize pool.
TI 2026 will be split into two phases: the ‘Road to The International’ and ‘The International’ main event. The Road to The International will be a Swiss-style Group Stage from 13 to 16 August, where the 16 teams will be cut down to the final eight that will play in the game's biggest stage from 20 to 23 August in Shanghai's Oriental Sports Center.
While Valve have yet to reveal the details on TI 2026's prize pool, the tournament is expected to follow last year's prize pool format with a US$1.6 million base prize pool. The prize pool will then be boosted through sales of the TI 2026 Compendium.
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